2013 is going to be a blissful year in the garden

More and more people are expected to spend time with vegetable, fruit or herb gardens this year, says Steve Whysall, who notes that there will also be a continued interest in luxury outdoor spaces that include fire pits and kitchens.Photo by
Alison Hancock

The year of bliss. That's what the Garden Media Group, one of the top trend-spotting agencies in the U.S., has designated 2013 - the year when gardeners turn their backs on trouble and strife and more actively seek joy and bliss in their everyday life.

"Connecting with nature is a necessity, not a luxury," says Suzi McCoy, head of the Pennsylvania-based GMG, which releases a Garden Trends Report every year.

"People today want to find bliss in everyday life. Being in nature - either in a garden or park or filling your home with indoor plants - adds immeasurable happiness and wellness to our lives."

McCoy says more people are "fed up with complexities of modern life" and are turning their backs on fear and looking for ways to find greater happiness and turn the "ordinary into the extraordinary."

GMG released its first Garden Trends Report in 2001. The latest one will be its 13th. In it, GMG looks at various emerging and existing trends across North America, as well as in other parts of the world.

Drawing on various research and marketing data, GMG says people are re-evaluating their values and priorities and redefining happiness. They are ultimately coming to the conclusion that gardening is a way to achieve joy and satisfaction, says McCoy.

Li Edelkoort, one of the report's contributing trend gurus, says the year of bliss will be marked by an acceptance of economic uncertainty and a willingness to adapt.

The report also sees the horticulture industry becoming much more aggressive in its presentation of the benefits of gardening, not only as a way to make communities more beautiful, but also as a way to protect the environment, improve health, reduce crime, make the air cleaner, and even help kids to become smarter.

Two of the important trend "wave makers", says GMG, are top horticulture advocates Marvin Miller and Charlie Hall.

Miller is market research manager for Chicago-based Ball Horticultural, one of the biggest plant companies in the U.S., and president of America in Bloom, an organization that promotes beautification through education and community involvement.

Hall is a professor in the department of horticultural sciences at the Texas A&M University.

Both men are considered highly effective advocates of the benefits of gardening to heal and restore, as well as a way to make the world more beautiful and improve living conditions, all of which result in a greater sense of well-being in a community.

Miller has produced popular videos demonstrating why plants are more than merely pretty objects, but actually help reduce crime, clean the air and improve health.

Hall has shown how quality landscaping is a way of increasing property values. He has also argued convincingly that putting money into parks and botanical gardens is a way to create new revenue streams from ecotourism for cities.

Both men, according to GMG, are having a significant impact on the thinking of leaders, not only in the gardening industry, but also in government and community circles at all levels, and especially on consumers who agree that there are clear benefits to be gained from gardening and creating beautiful garden-like environments.

In terms of specific gardening trends, native and drought-tolerant plants are expected to be even more popular in 2013.

There is also evidence of undiminished enthusiasm for small-space gardening, especially with an emphasis on growing plants in containers.

Gardeners are expected to become smarter spenders in 2013 - pausing to think more critically before spending and making fewer spontaneous purchases.

The rise of WINKS - women with no kids - as a distinct consumer demographic is expected to have an impact on sales of plants and general gardening items in the New Year.

Interest in fire pits, outdoor kitchens and luxury outdoor living spaces is expected to continue in 2013, with a greater accent on professionally installed landscape components, such as customized seating and irrigation systems.

Demand for ready-to-place potted plants is predicted to increase, along with more interest in making better use of colour-injecting summer annuals and foliage plants.

But most gardening experts agree that the No. 1 trend in 2013 will continue to be the interest in growing edible plants as more people decide to try their hand at growing their own food, either in vegetable, herb or fruit gardens, or in containers on decks, patios and balconies.

James Wong, a leading botanist at Kew Botanic Garden in London, is creating a stir within this edible-gardening craze by focusing on growing unusual rather than traditional vegetables.

His book, Homegrown Revolution, has become a bestseller, in which he puts tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica), at the top of his list of unusual vegetables. This is a lime-flavoured tomato-like fruit that Wong claims knocks spots off the tomato.

He also focuses on harvesting fiddlehead ferns, day lily buds and bamboo shoots and talks about ways to use dahlia, fuchsia and hosta in the form of roots, berries and shoots respectively.

His other ideas for food gardeners include spraying plants with garlic to deter slugs and snails, sowing in sequence to sustain harvests, and practising multiple-crop planting to reduce weeds, attract pollinators and maximize yields.

There is also expected to be even greater focus on clever plant marketing in 2013 as nurseries explore more creative ways to sell plants.

Costa Farms, of Florida, the biggest supplier of indoor plants in North America, has already teamed up with Miracle-Gro to promote Plants for Clean Air (02 For You) as a way to raise awareness of how plants can be used to boost indoor air quality.

Van Belle Nursery in Abbotsford has launched a Bloomin' Easy blue-pot series of shrubs designed to guarantee success for beginner gardeners.

The nursery is also taking a technological leap by making it possible for consumers to access information and advice via their cellphones.

And Proven Winners, a worldwide promoter of garden-worthy plants, will continue to dominate the summer plant market with an expanded line of colourful combinations created specifically for small-space gardens.

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